Overseers Assemble Today; Consider Pusey's Election

Close to 30 members of the Board of Overseers will meet at 3 p.m. this afternoon to consider the Corporation's selection of Nathan Marsh Pusey as the 24th President of Harvard.

The Overseers, with a veto power over the Corporation, can refuse to agree to Pusey's election, but it is generally believed that the Lawrence College president will be approved without too much opposition. In the distant past, however--back in 1868--the Overseers held up the election of President Eliot for a six month period before giving in to Corporation pressure.

Traditional

The selection of a Harvard president is governed by traditional procedure. At a special meeting a week ago Monday, the Overseers met in University Hall while the six members of the Corporation were in session at Massachusetts Hall.

The Overseers, following tradition, opened their meeting by voting to give the Corporation the power to elect the next president.

The special meeting of the Overseers had been called under a provision of the Harvard charter which allows the Corporation to "procure the presence" of the Overseers for the election of a president.

Harvard regulations require an interval of at least a week before final approval can be given by the Overseers.

Selection

The six-man Corporation committee made its selection after exhaustive investigation and interviewing of four months duration.

Roger I. Lee '02, who was a Corporation member when President Conant was chosen, heads the group, which includes Charles A. Coolidge '17, R. Keith Kane '22, William L. Marbury, Thomas S. Lamont '21, and Treasurer of the College Paul C. Cabot. Coolidge has been on the Corporation for 17 years, while Kane, Marbury, and Lamont are more recent appointments. Marbury is the only members of the group who is not a Harvard graduate, having attended the University of Virginia before coming to Law School here.